295 



§^etto foam §xo^t t\t ^titiparg. 



^HE following letter from Francis Grose, the antiquary, to 

 Mr. Foster, Bond's Court, Walbrook, London, contains 

 some references to Wiltshire subjects. It has a post-mark 

 "Salisbury, 24 August." The original is in the possession 

 of Mrs. Q. Anstie, of Devizes, by whose kind permission it is 

 printed. 



" Gussage All Sta. Aug. 21, 1772. 



" I hope you got home without being caught in the heavy shower which fell 

 at St. Alban's about half an hour after you set out. I Btaid there till Wednes- 

 day morning, in which time we examined every comer of the Abbey, ascended 

 the vaultings and towers, and found to my surprize the staircases and their 

 centre pillars all made of bricks originally circular, and not made so from 

 square, — a proof that such materials were not Roman, but Norman manufacture. 



My fellow travellers left me at Rickmansworth, after having with much 

 difficulty obtained a sight of the gallery at Moore park, which has not its equal 

 that I have seen for rich tapestry and superb ceiling. At Gorhambury we saw 

 a singular portrait on wood of an ancestor of the Grimston's, Standard-bearer 

 to the Conqueror, painted by Petrus Xt" I PFU) which, in a paper pinned to it, 

 is made 1116, but must mean 1446. Walpole has not, I believe, noticed it. 

 'Tis a good picture, and M. T. made a drawing of it. 



I spent the Thursday at Sunning HiU with Mess". Wightwick and Claxton, 

 who enquired after you ; and conducted me to Oakingham. I passed through 

 the end of the bustle of Reading races, &o., to the N. edge of "WUts. At 

 Lydiard Tregoze saw some sumptuous momiments of the two families of St. 

 John. At Malmesbury a fine morcean of early architecture. I went to the 

 over-built city of Bath, whose groupes of buildings would do honour to London, 

 but are ill connected and worse kept up. The Circus and Crescent have an air 

 of magnificence separately considered ; but no public buildings that I have yet 

 seen form a good tout ensemble with the surrounding town. Bath has delicious 

 country about it ; but the amphitheatre of cultivation seen from the top of 

 Bratton HiU by Westbury is a most enchanting scene. On this hill is a noble 

 camp of 24 acres ; and below it, a horse cut in chalk, 60 feet high. 



I have now been a week in Dorset, visiting the antient and modem curiosities, 

 the author of the History, and his best friends, who are indeed the best people 

 in the country, and shew me great civility. Poor Hutchins was able to con- 

 verse with me two hours ; with a faltering paralytic tongue, but clear ideas and 

 lively gratitude. I have been here with Mr. Wisenor 4 days. Our mornings 

 pass in seeing Lord Shaftesbury's and other seats, and galloping over the 



